Barbara's Book of Fire

Chapter 14

"Welcome to Green Tree Troph, miss Travis." Her voice traveled soft and light across the dimly lit room, enrapturing lost and dazing souls. For someone whom I've caught acting like a teenager despite her age, Hilda sure seemed different when she welcomed us. 

There were two people beside her inside the room, who were apparently irked by our delayed arrival, or it could have been how their faces had always been—I don't know, maybe it was.

"Um...I'm here, madam Skywing? I mean, Barbara Travis is present..." It was confusing how I was supposed to reply due to the clear contrast in Hilda's demeanor, but I tried my best.

"Inside the academy ground, you'll have to address me as Headmaster Skywing, miss Travis." She hinted for us at the chair across the already seated elders and turned to Freddy. "I don't expect to find you here, mister Oswald."

"Yes, Headmaster Skywing. It was supposed to be mister Kane's duty to be the escort, but he, unfortunately, concocts a wrong dose of a certain herb in elixirs class..." Freddy's face burned red as he recalled the story. "And so, he had to spend time in the infirmary...and the lavatory..."

"Ah, speak no more. I can already picture the poor boy's fate in my mind." Hilda waved at him awkwardly. "It must be hard for you to travel on such short notice from the Red Leaf, mister Oswald. Make sure to rest properly before you go back tomorrow."

"I will. My sincere gratitude, Headmaster."

"As you will, mister." Hilda gestured to Freddy to be at ease and then turned to the rest of us. "Now, before we begin, let me introduce the two elders first."

She pointed at the big-burly and damn scary man on her right.

"First is our Green Tree vice-headmaster, sir Bellwin Morty. He's in charge of monitoring and maintaining order inside the academy," Hilda cast a bemused look when she saw me flinched in place. "Say you break the rules or do something bad? You can expect sir Morty here to knock on your door without fail."

Grey hair, towering height reaching to more than six feet at the very least, and an old scar to complete it all—ranging from his neck and circling far to his left ear. If someone could say he was not scary right up my nose, then I wonder what a scary person should've looked like at all.

I nodded in complete obedience at Hilda's word, making a mental promise not to cross the good sir's way in the future.

"Beside him is our diviner, madam Louise Niera. She'd be the one who'll tell us at which house that suits you best." Hilda brought our attention to the opposite side before giving a piece of Hilda-like remark at the end. "Both sir Morty and madam Niera will also be functioning as a teacher inside the academy, so don't scream when sir Bellwin walks in on your classroom—"

*Cough! 

Sensing that his superior was about to revert back to her unsavory manner and dump some useless information, sir Morty cued awkwardly.

'Oops, she slipped up.' It was hard to hold my expression and not break a giggle. Yet, I persevere through it all—because that was how scary sir Morty appeared in my eyes—even Filtiarn agreed with me...true story. 'Although, I got to admit the concern was soundly found. Suppose sir Morty did walk in when I was busy studying, alone...forget keeping cool, I might've screamed and showered him with arrows.' 

Opposite the man, madam Niera didn't give out many details other than the unusually big hat, her small body that hunched conspicuously, and her face full of wrinkles with dark-brown spots. It really showed how time had taken its toll on her body.

"Ahem! Moving on, there are some things in Green Tree that you should know of, miss Travis." Hilda continued. "In here, students will be separated into different houses. Those are the house of Kryfos, which trains and nurtures the future scouts of Fysi, where all the scouts we sent outside were shaped and molded here in their earlier days. The second is the house of Cheiristis. It studies everything you need to know about artifacts. The public ones you see on the street, those used by scouts above the ground, and down to the making and designing—everything. And then we have the house of Mantis, also known as the house of diviners. They train magicians with the gift and resolve to delve deeper into the abyss of neverending mysteries we call...Destiny."